A Fragrant Mystery: Outtakes
by GreenThumbTarasova
Summary: Outtakes, M chapters, Jacks POV, and other selected scenes. Not all scenes are M. Follow warnings posted at tops of chapters.
1. Chapter 1

A/n Still not mine, still would love to know Cajun. Maybe I'll pick up a Cajun dictionary one of these days...

This should put the story over 50K now. Holy cow! Um there's some M rating in the cane fields. So if you're reading this and you're under age, skip that part.

Enjoy!

I stood, dazed, envisioning the devastation of the future _I _had set in motion. My friends, all of my friends slowly starving to death, all my fault.

Jack stood in front of me gripping my shoulders shaking me a little, "Evangeline, snap out of it."

I looked up at him, my face awash with tears. My voice was weak with tears when I whispered, "What have I done?"

"Evie, _bebe_, calme-toi, it'll be alright. You told me you weren't even sure if it would happen tomorrow or next month or-"

"No! It's tomorrow night! I know it is! And all those people are gonna starve Jack, but they were gonna die and I couldn't just let them, not if I could do something..."

"It'll be alright. We'll figure something out." He was pacing around like a caged lion and I was thinking I needed to know what to do now that I'd messed up everyone's future...

_future. _

I knew someone who knew the _future_.

"Jack, I need to make a call. I'll be right back. I'm going to go to the barn. Wait here, alright?"

"Evie, what-"

"I have an idea, just wait here and I'll run it by you when I get back."

I ran to the barn, dashing inside and closing the doors behind me. When I opened the door, the horses nickered a welcome. Well, all of them except for my sweet old nag Allegra—named _before_ the allergy medicine had taken off; she snored.

I dashed through the wide center aisle to the office in the back. When I got there I closed that door too and checked my phone. Two AM. Too late to call Matthew.

Crap!

I yelled. "Matthew! Matthew! I've got to talk to you! Please!" My nose tingled. For once I was actually happy about the headache about to come on. I sagged against the post behind me as the barn office faded away into Matthew's basement Star War's playroom.

He smiled at me. "Empress called?" He sounded so pleased!

"Yes! Hi Matthew. Thanks!" I was so relieved, but still upset and now I had a headache too. "I think I messed up big time. I warned a bunch of friends to stay in their cellars tomorrow night, but now I'm worried they won't have enough food and I'll have to watch them all starve to death after the Flash. What can I do?"

Matthew...smiled?! What the hell? "Empress has a sense of humor this time." Uh, again...

"So if there's a joke, could you clue me in on it, because I'm kind of lost here." Not to mention my head hurt really bad. Ever try to take a test with a migraine? I was always glad to talk to Matthew these days, but the visions _always_ hurt. Like an ice pick being shoved into my head.

"Empress, what is my power?"

"You see the past, present, future and you can send visions."

"Empress, what is _your_ power?"

"Um...plants...?" He cocked his head to the side, brows raised and looked at me as though waiting for a particularly stupid child to grasp an incredibly simple concept.

Plants.

Food grew on plants.

Oh my Tarot Empress card with food growing in abundance on it...I slapped my head on my forehead. I _was_ stupid. Bless Matthew for putting up with me.

In my own defense, 24 out of 26 of my dreams had been an evil red witch using plants to kill and/or torture people. 25 had been Death or other Arcana cards. 26 had actually been plants growing, but not a person growing plants, just plants growing on their own.

"So I can grow food for them after the flash? I can keep my friends from starving?"

"Yes. But most important to develop arsenal, allies. Keep watch for foes."

"Thanks Matthew. You're the best!"

"Never fail you, Evie."

My eyes watered. Why was _I_ his only friend. Why did I have his loyalty? "Matthew? I'll try to never let you down either. I know I'm just learning all this stuff, so I probably don't seem very smart, but I've got your back too. Ok?"

His eyes were bright. "Thank you Empress." He gave mea grave nod and then he was gone.

My nose was running. I wiped it. My tongue swiped my upper lip and I tasted iron. Nosebleed. Darn it! Jackson was out there waiting and he was going to see this! I opened to door of the office, intending to go to the sink out in the main area of the barn...and ran into a hard chest.

Jackson. Shoot!

I kept my head down and wiped my face one more time. Still bleeding. Ugh. I held my hand to my nose.

"Evie. Who were you talking to? Who did you call?"

"Um..." I kept my head lowered and side stepped trying to move around him. He gripped my arms, ducking his head and stepping back a little, trying to look at my face. No, no, no. I averted my head, down and to the side, still covering my lower face with a hand.

"Evie, what's wrong?"

"Um...I just need to wash up for a minute."

I couldn't really see him in the dark of the barn, which meant he couldn't see me either. He dragged me over to the window inside the office and tore my hand away from my face.

"Mon Dieu! Evangeline! What the hell! You're bleeding! He tore his shirt off to hold it to my face, tilting my head back.

"I'll be fine! I just need to wash up. There's a sink in the main barn."

"Just shut up for a second. You can wash up when you're done bleeding like a stuck pig." He leaned me back against his bare chest and tilted my head back, holding his shirt to my nose with one hand, his other arm solidly around my waist, holding me close. I couldn't help but admit to myself, he felt really nice. Warm. Hard but comfortable too. His shirt against my nose smelled really good and I liked the way my head nestled just right into the crook where his neck and shoulder met.

After a bit he asked me, "You want to tell me who Matthew is and why he's the best?" He sounded pretty angry. Uh oh. That conversation had been pretty incriminating.

"How much did you hear?"

"I heard you yelling so I thought I'd come check things out. I got here in time to hear you tell him that. Just how many men are you stringing along _fille_?" Yeah, definitely angry.

I pushed away from Jackson. "I think the bleeding's stopped. I'm going to go wash up."

"You goan to answer me?" His tone was belligerent as he followed.

"You should know that I've never even met Matthew. It's not like that with us. We're more...phone buddies or pen pals. I only really spoke to him for the first time a few days ago."

"So why did you need to call him then? What was so important that you had to talk to him right now?"

"He knows stuff." I turned on the water and began scrubbing dried blood off my hands.

"He knows stuff?"

"Yeah."

"So what did he tell you then."

"That we'll be able to grow crops here after the flash. Enough to feed anyone who comes. No one we warn will starve. So warn everyone you can tomorrow Jackson." I washed my face and chin.

"People can grow crops after the flash?"

"Matthew didn't say that. Matthew said we can grow crops at Haven."

"What makes Haven so special?"

_Haven's not special. The Empress is the one who can grow crops...some how and she's the one at Haven. Not that I'm telling Jackson that._

I wiped water off my face and started scrubbing his shirt with cold water. Fortunately it was black. I used lots of soap. I grabbed one of the stiff brushes near by and used it too. Hopefully I could fix his shirt...

Jackson grabbed my hands. "Evie, forget the shirt. What makes Haven so special?"

Matthew didn't say what made Haven special." _That's actually true..._ "He just said we'd be able to feed everyone. Okay?"

"Alright _cher_. Let's grab those blankets you wanted."

I wrung out his shirt and left it hanging in the sink to drain there, promising myself I'd wash and get it back to him tomorrow, then helped him get a couple horse blankets from the office, and we left the barn, Jackson grabbing his bike from where he'd left it beside the barn door to walk it with us. We passed by Mom's silver Mercedes SUV that was parked out front.

As we walked back down the oystershell drive, then down a dirt path through one of the cane fields, I dragged my splayed hands through the stalks, relishing the safety I felt. Though I was safe with Jackson, I was even safer among the cane. I soaked up the sultry air, savoring the insect chatter, the sweet smell of dew, the animals at play all around us. Everything was so alive, _teeming_ with life. I sighed, my lids going half-masted.

"_Drole fille,"_ Jackson chuckled. In proper French, drole meant funny. In Cajun? Weird.

"Why do you say that?"

"It's a foggy night and we're walking by these rustling canes. A _p'tee fille_ like you strolling along without a care in the world? Shouldn't you be hanging on to my arm?

"Not hardly. Remember, I grew up here, running amongst the cane fields as a child." I wanted him to see the cane fields as I did. "They stand tall like soldiers, you can smell the dew in the air, hear the raccoons or mice running around, the insects chittering at night, the birds chirping. It just sounds like home to me."

We left the house behind but Jackson turned and stood to look at it one more time. I did too, trying to look at it through his eyes. He'd visited during the day, but it looked different at night. The gaslights flickered over the twelve proud columns. Night-blooming jasmine ascended the many trellises, forever reaching for the grand old house as if with lust. Those majestic oaks had already caught it; they encircled the structure protectively.

"You know what I think?" he finally said. "I think you are just like this house, Evangeline. Rich and fine on the outside, but no one's got a clue what's going on inside."

"You've been inside our house a time or two Jack, and you've seen my sketches."

"Exactly. Folks would never guess at what you hide inside yourself, you hide it so well."

Not knowing what to make of that I shrugged it off and kept walking away. If he knew what I really hid inside me, he probably wouldn't want anything to do with me. He followed, catching up.

"You're really planning to sleep out here in the fields tonight?"

"That's right."

When we came to the stop at a hidden dirt square between a patch of cane fields we stopped, both of us seeming to agree this looked like a good spot for me to camp out for the night. Mom wouldn't find me here. The paths of dirt were staggered like on a tile floor where large and small tiles mixed and we stood on the small square tile of dirt, the large tiles being the cane fields.

Jack parked his bike and I laid out the blankets, shaking them out to lay flat on the dirt. He walked closer, wrapping his arms around me again. "You're really not scared of being alone out here then?"

I liked being in his arms. He felt warm. "Really not scared. Maybe a little cold though. You're warm."

"He wrapped me up tighter, dropping a kiss on my head. "Want me to stay and keep you warm tonight Evie?"

"You'd do that? Stay out all night with a girl you barely know to keep her safe?"

"Depends on the girl. If the girl looks like you? _Sans doute."_ -without a doubt. Belly wosh. Unfortunately, also another tally mark in the cajun player column.

"There are plenty of girls that look like me at school. There are even a couple other blond cheerleaders. Why not chase one of them? Why pick me to stare at, flirt with, and walk home with tonight?"

"_C'est vrai._" -That's true "There are plenty of other pretty blonds at school, some are even cheerleaders like you. You dance better than them. You understand me when I speak _Francais Cadien. _You were friendly to Clotile this week from day one, and all my other _podna's_, when most of the other coo-yon's at that rich school looked at us like something they'd like to scrape off their boots. You see visions out windows and in dreams and you look to me to help you figure out what that means when you doan even tell your _mere_ or your best friend, who you told me was like a _soeur _to you." -sister.

"You are the biggest puzzle I ever come across _belle fille_, and I aim to figure you out."

I shivered with a sudden ominous foreboding. What if when Jack fit all the puzzle pieces together, he didn't _like_ the final picture he'd put together? If I _was _the Empress, with rose thorn nails like the Red Witch of my nightmares, I might not like who I had to become one day either. I was turning into a freak, someone with powers that scared me, that horrified me. I didn't want to kill people.

Not to mention, that if Jack valued traits like those of Robinson Crusoe, I probably scored zero out of ten. I didn't know how to cook, sew, repair, hunt; in this brave new world we were headed into, my value was probably nil. The one value I did have I was going to have to disguise. A Catholic boy like Jack, he'd probably think I was possessed by a demon. He'd want nothing to do with a freak like me. I was totally sure of it.

I looked away across the fields frowning, suddenly filled with a sense of despair.

"Bebe, quoi y a?" -Baby, what's wrong? He turned my face back to him, frowning down at me.

"Sometimes the puzzle pieces are interesting, but once you put it together...it's not a good picture."

"You got ugly secrets, _cher?_"

"Doesn't everyone?"

"_Ouais, _but somehow I have a feeling that yours are a bit different than most."

Perceptive Jackson.

Deciding to change the subject, I looked down and said, "I think I'm ready to call it a night. It had to be after 2:30 or 3 by now. We were on the edge of a cane field where no one would see us come morning. I laid down between the blankets while Jack parked his bike closer beside the blanket. He came around to the other side forcing me between him and the bike so I was surrounded on three sides by the bike, the cane and Jackson. The narrow dirt lanes had cane on the other sides so really, all around, surrounded. Totally safe.

I laid down on my stomach and side, propping my head up on my elbow and hand to look over at Jackson. Was he just naturally protective or did he do this stuff on purpose? And why did it make my belly flutter when he was protective? Shouldn't I be more...self-reliant?

He propped himself up, mirroring me. "What're you thinking so hard about bebe?"

"The things you do, the way you act, with me."

His face turned inscrutable. "What about it, exactly?"

"You've parked your bike on one side of me, and you on the other with the cane on the third. Are you naturally protective or do you do these things on purpose?"

"If I'm with you tonight, then it's my responsibility to look out for you. Ain't nothin' goan to happen to you while you're with me Evie. That's a promise. I spent my whole life watchin' my six, so it's part instinct, ain't no one goan to get the drop on me. Yes you better believe I do that shit on purpose."

I broke out in goose bumps. Nothing would happen to me while I was with him, and that was a promise. For a girl who had nightmares of Death threatening to kill her, who'd almost been killed by lightning tonight, those words struck a chord somewhere deep inside me.

I needed to kiss this boy, who made me feel safer than anyone ever had. Here, surrounded by my soldiers 10,000 strong, Jack still made me feel protected. I didn't know how I was supposed to control the soldiers. Jack had promised to protect me though. And didn't that deserve a kiss?

I moved to my stomach and elbows and edged closer, my face close to his, my hands brushing his chest and bicep of the arm holding him up. His eyes met mine. My tongue peeked out to wet my lips and his eyes fastened on it. I moved closer and gently touched my lips to his.

So not tired anymore. Heat and fire mixed as our lips met. He opened and his tongue came out to sweep into my mouth. I met him, welcoming him in, and as I did, his hand came behind my head and tilted my head for a better angle, pressing me closer at the same time.

He fell to his back, an arm around my waist pulling me with him, pressing me against his side as he made hot love to my mouth. His tongue seemed to mimic what I imagined sex to be, thrusting, parrying, sweeping. His teeth, made little nips at my lips before he sucked at them with his mouth, kissing them better. I moaned with delight. This was like a drug! I'd asked him to keep me warm, but I hadn't imagined catching on fire. I felt like I was flying.

My hands swept into his hair searching for an anchor, and the texture was heaven. Heavy silk glided between my fingers. I gently teased his scalp with my nails, combing his hair with my fingers. He moaned and shivered. Good. I just wished there was more hair for me to play with. It was so beautiful.

The hand on my waist swept long strokes, his hands splayed. He went under my shirt, his calloused, firm hands feeling the skin of my back, the side curves of my breasts where they were pressed against his chest. The underneath curve where they met my ribcage. Down to grip my ass, where he gripped me and shifted me fully on top of him, arranging my legs to fall on either side of him, then caressing my thighs in teasing strokes and circles. When I squirmed and wriggled away, shifting my legs more together because that was just too much, he brought his hands back up to my head, combing my hair, letting it fall over my bare shoulders. No wonder people loved halter tops. So sensual. His kisses were drugging. His fingers were at my nape.

Suddenly, he rolled us over, he was over me, between my legs, hard pressure there, grinding as he kissed me. I couldn't hold back the moans and I practically writhed beneath him, my hips arching into his. Now I could touch all of his hair, his shoulders, his back, arms. He was so strong.

"I can't believe you taste even sweeter than you smell. You're like a drug Evie. Your secrets, your perfume. Honey and honeysuckle. You drive me mad." He told me between kisses. He'd untied the halter pulling it away from my neck to lay nips and sucks on my jaw and throat. One hand reached down to pull my knee up...oh that was better, he ground again and it felt even better. How was it getting even better?

"Evie? I want to take this off. Do you want more?"

"What?" I felt like I must be stoned. I was nearly out of my mind.

He grinned, pleased about something. "Feeling good bebe?" He rolled his hips against me.

"Amazing!" I was flushed and grinding on him, breathing hard.

"I bet I could make you come just like this." His eyes were wicked. Calculating.

"Come? Where're we goin'?" So confused. Wanted more."

"Let me move your shirt down Bebe. I promise I'll make you feel even better. Let me give you a little more." He kissed my neck, thrusting his hips, fingers teasing circles on my thigh. I was panting, dizzy.

"Jack!"

"Say yes Bebe."

"Yes, Jack. Please!"

"Ma bonne fille." He pushed my shirt around my waist and his hands pushed my breasts up. "You're so gorgeous cher." His thumbs and fingers pinched the tips, rolling them lightly between his fingers. I nearly shrieked, my hips jerking against his. His head dipped down, pulling one into his mouth, sucking hard, nipping, sucking, lapping while his hand pulled, pinched and rolled the other.

Something inside me snapped, "Jack!" My fingers gripped his shoulders as I tensed, pleasure shooting throughout me, before I relaxed beneath him, weightless. "Jack." I whispered, stunned.

His hands gentled on me, hand covering my breast possessively instead of pinching now, his head rising to stare fiercely into my face. He kissed me with a hunger that nearly dwarfed his earlier kisses. "Your fire, your passion. I burn with wanting for you."

His hands moved on my breasts, pinching, pulling, teasing, rolling. His hips stroked mine. "Tell me you want more!"

There was more of this? More kisses?" "More! Please!"

"Bien!" He pulled away. No! Cold. And then...was that a zipper? He came back holding up ...a condom?! "I'm goan to take good care of you, Bebe."

I'd planned to wait to have sex until I was 16 and in a committed relationship with my boyfriend. Then I realized that I should really try to add love and chemistry to that equation.

Jack and I only had chemistry. I might could fall in love with him, but I wasn't yet. I didn't even trust the boy or know for sure if he was playing me. We weren't in a relationship. I'd just gotten out of one. No way were we having sex tonight!

"I'm not having sex with you!" His head snapped to me and anger seared his expression.

"Why are you actin' like sex with me is such a fool idea? You said you wanted more!"

"More kisses, more...stuff. Not sex!"

He sat away from me, one leg cocked up and ran his hand through his hair in frustration. I pulled my knees up to my naked chest and wrapped my arms around them.

"So I'm good enough to fool around with, good enough to make you come for the first time, just not good enough to take all the way? Is that how it is? Why's that Evie?"

"Because I'm not just going to give my first time away to just anyone. It has to be someone special." Uh...too late I heard how that must have sounded to him.

"Right. Brandon would have been good enough because he was rich, and a quarterback and I'm not because I'm Cajun and poor. Is that it?"

I was stunned speechless. Is that how he saw me? That shallow? Was that how he saw himself? As not good enough? I spoke too late, "N...no."

"Forget it. I'm goan for a walk. Cool off. Go to sleep princess."

He stalked off, taking a deep drink from his flask. I pulled up my halter-top and retied it, then laid down and pulled the blanket over me thinking, "_That could have gone better." _

I wiped a few tears away and shivered in the cool night air. As I replayed what we'd said and done, I didn't understand how things had gone so quickly. Why had Jackson skipped over so many of the bases I'd thought to expect and jumped straight to sex? Maybe Mel would know.

I drifted off before he came back, but in my sleep I felt warmth at my back. I woke a bit, realizing Jackson had come back. He was laying on his back, hands behind his head, his leather jacket a pillow. Why did I like this boy so much? Something about him called to me. Giving in to the impulse, since he was asleep and I didn't know when I'd ever have the chance again, I tentatively scooted closer, resting my head on his bicep and my arm around his bare chest. After a moment, I twined one leg around his, then moved the blanket a bit, making sure he was covered well too.

The next morning I woke with the dawn. Even when staying up late, something about being outside means you wake with the dawn. Jackson had shifted so he lay on his side and I lay on my back. He had one leg draped over both of mine and one arm possessively wrapped around my waist. His arm was still behind my neck. I smiled, drifting off again. I was a cuddler, but since Mom and I were on the outs and Mel wasn't much of a cuddler, that just left Brandon. Since I had been in avoidance mode with him, it had been a long while since I'd gotten any good cuddles. I wiggled a smidge closer to his torso and wrapped my arms around Jack's arm at my waist, relishing the closeness, and drifted off again, smiling.

I woke feeling as though I was being watched. I lay still and controlled my breathing, trying to see if I could sense what was going on. I wasn't in Jack's arms anymore. Alone. Had he left? If he had, it could be an enemy, one of those three kids from last night or maybe Death for real in the Cane fields? Suddenly filled with adrenaline and panicked I rushed to my feet and stood, running for the cane and not stopping until I was three rows in before turning and standing to see who was there.

Jack.

Crap.

He was sitting on his bike staring at me with that look on his face like he'd found another puzzle piece and was trying to figure out where this one fit in.

I slowly walked out of the cane, feeling really really stupid. To give myself something to do I picked up a blanket and folded it, saying, "Thank you for staying with me last night. I slept well." I had too. No evil red witch dreams. I folded the other blanket. It had been ages since I'd dreamed without nightmares. Just green, growing plants last night, the dreams I dreamed when I was happy.

He studied me before giving me a nod. "I've got to be goan."

And he'd waited to go until I woke...why? So he could protect me? Stare at me while I slept? Probably both.

"Thanks for everything." I hugged the blankets. Why did this feel so final. So...wrong? "See you soon?"

"Ouais." He came closer, studying my face, looking for something, I didn't know what. Then he lifted my chin and gave me a kiss. Long, lingering. As though he was telling me something without words.

When he got on his bike I told him, "Jack?" I waited until he looked at me, then said, "Stay safe tonight."

"You too Evangeline." He put on his helmet and jacket over his bare chest, and then he took off. I walked back home.

That morning I crept into the house. Mom didn't hear me come in, talking on the phone to some farmer about the drought. As I got undressed my phone fell out of my boot.

Phone.

Matthew.

Mom.

As I showered quickly I thought, _Does Matthew's Mom even know what's going to happen? Can she comprehend what's going to happen through all his cryptic speech that the world is about to change forever?_

I dressed quickly and grabbed my phone, pushing speed dial ten for Matthew. Rachael answered.

"Hi, Mrs. Dixon, this is Evie."

"Evie! Hi. Did you want to speak with Matthew?"

"I do, but I'll want to talk with you next if that's ok."

"Oh. Sure thing. Just a minute dear."

"Hi Empress. Are you prepared?

"I'm working on it but my mom isn't and I can't talk to her about this stuff and here's why. She had me committed this summer because of all the visions. She thought I was insane. So I haven't been able to tell her about any of this. I want to but I have to have credibility and I don't. Regardless, I'll get her, me and Mel in our cellar tonight."

"But I just wanted to ask you, does your Mom know what's going to happen tonight?"

"I warn. Prepare. Speak Louder. She can't hear. Can't listen. Muggle."

I took that to mean that she couldn't receive Matthew's visions and didn't get his lingo.

"I'd like to tell her for you in muggle speak. Is that alright?"

"Empress is Matthew's friend. Thank you Evie."

"Sure Matthew. Thanks for everything.

"Hi Evie, it's Rachael. What did you want to tell me?"

"First could I exchange some information real quick? I'd like to give you my address and get yours. I know you live near Huntsville Alabama and I think I remember the street name..."

Rachael gave her the info Evie quickly wrote it on the back of Matthew's picture.

"Do you have a pen?"

"Um...Yes. Go ahead." Rachael wrote without comment until Evie told her she was in Sterling Louisiana.

"Louisiana? How do you know Matthew? I thought you said you were friends? That he'd asked you to call him several times."

"I'm about to tell you something Mrs. Dixon and it's going to be very hard for you to believe. Your son is very special. And when I say special, I mean that he's been talking to me, without using a phone. He's been speaking to me through visions. He started doing this as far back as last Christmas. I thought at first that I was going crazy. I finally asked Matthew a few days ago if he was real, if he really existed. He showed me a vision of him standing in a yard at a barbecue. He was standing alone all by himself. The other kids wouldn't talk to him. He was wearing a shirt that said HUNTSVILLE SPACE CAMP and a rocket launched into the sky. I asked for his phone number. He showed a vision of the paperwork for the space camp and I memorized your number. That was the night I first called you."

"Evie...what you're saying...I'm sorry-

"I can prove it!" I interrupted. I'd take the migraine. Anything to prove it. "Write something down on paper. Matthew can send me a vision and show it to me. I'll read it off. I swear to you this is real and it's more important than you can know because I need to tell you something and you have to believe me so let me prove this to you." My voice was full of fire. I had to make her believe me!

My nose tingled and the car disappeared but I knew I was still holding my phone and sitting on my bed. Now it looked like I was in the living room of Matthew's house. Rachael Dixon had a cute southern place, quilts, china on the walls, rustic and antiques, lots of things that wouldn't look out of place in a Cracker Barrel. Rachael Dixon sat on a blue couch, the phone on a wooden end table next to her, a pad of paper and pen on her lap. Matthew was standing in front of her, arms crossed, focused and assured, a fireplace, mantle and mirror behind him, pictures of him and Rachael together sitting on the mantle. Matthew had placed me sitting on the couch next to his mom.

"Hi Matthew." Matthew just nodded at the pad Rachael was writing on as she held the phone next to her ear.

"Rachael, as you're writing on your pad of paper, "This is the worst hoax ever three exclamation points, sixteen thousand one hundred eighty four point seven seven seven you are sitting on a blue couch next to a wooden table with Matthew standing in front of you with his arms crossed...and he's looking rather smug at the moment...and your mouth is gaping open Oh, no, Mrs. Dixon no! Don't cry! Matthew! Hug your mother right now!"

Matthew gave her a confused look but walked forward and bent over a bit, awkwardly hugging her shoulders.

"Kneel down silly boy and give her a proper hug." He obeyed. "There you go. Rub her back a little."

Mrs. Dixon had her head buried in Matthew's neck and one hand on his head, but her other hand still pressed the phone to her ear. While she calmed down I commented on how cute Matthew was growing up. "Awww, look at you on that rocking horse! How old was he?"

"18 months."

There was another of him holding a Light saber in a brown robe with shaggy hair, just like a young Anakin. "You make such a cute Jedi Matthew!"

"That was Halloween. He was six." Matthew glared.

"What? You're adorable like that!"

He continued glaring and said. "Time is short."

"Yeah, you're right. Mrs. Dixon. I know this is huge and I can't imagine what is going through your mind so I'm just going to tell you what I know so far alright?" Rachael nodded into Matthew's neck.

"You just nodded." A sobbing laugh from Rachael.

"Evie, You have no idea how much it means to me that you're telling me this about my son.

Evie chuckled a bit. "Matthew has the ability to see the future and the present. Right Matthew?"

"And past."

"Oh! Past too. Ok! So then, Matthew has shown me that tonight there is going to be a major event. Tonight is the night of the full moon. There will be a thunderstorm, maybe rain. After that will come what will appear to be something like the Aurora Borealis or northern lights. People will be spellbound by the lights. Most who look at the lights will be turned to ash. Some will become … changed. Hideous creatures whose skin is wrinkled and they ooze and they crave blood, but in drought they crave water. What you need to do to be safe is to hide in a cellar or basement without windows until the lights are over."

"Once they're done, go out and raid for supplies. Matthew, will our cars work after?"

"Not until you fix them."

I don't know if phones will work after tonight, but I'll try and listen to you as well as I can, alright.

"Phones only work if safe with you. They'll work, but not call."

"Right. Move all electronics to the cellar pronto! You catch that Mrs. Dixon?"

"I did. Call me Rachael, Evie.

"Crap. And I can't call you on my phone right?"

"Not on phone, you call me, I hear you."

"Wait, what?"

"You call me, I hear you, we'll talk."

"Seriously?" When he nodded at her she grinned. "That's awesome! I'll still get to talk to you after the flash happens!"

He smiled at how happy she was at that. She'd have to put up with a migraine to talk with him, but whatever. Some things were worth it.

"Rachael, I just want you to know that Matthew talks to me a lot. And I can talk to him back. We're friends. I'll do anything for him and he'd do anything for me, right Matthew?"

"Empress is my only friend."

Rachael clarified,"So you're Empress and Evie?"

Evie answered, "That's right. See, I'm still learning about this myself, but as near as I can understand, this has something to do with the Tarot cards. Matthew is the Fool card and his power is seeing Past, Present, and Future. And I'm the Empress card with power over Plants. Each Major Arcana is a person with a Power. Some are bad cards and you need to avoid them at all costs, like the Lovers who will lead a huge army, El Diablo, who wants to eat people. It's strange and weird and I'm sorry it's so creepy. I have to admit I don't like it either."

Evie continued,"To sum up, Matthew is hard to understand, but he's brilliant and you have to learn to listen to him, and try to understand what he's trying to tell you because it will save your life. He's already saved mine. Is there anything you want to ask or say while I'm here?"

Rachael sounded so dazed. "I wish I could think of something, but my mind is so jumbled up. What do we do after the Flash? After tomorrow?"

Matthew took that one, "It Begins at the End."

Evie asked, "What Begins Matthew?"

"Arcana, Foes, Obstacles, Allies, Battles, Arsenal. Prepare Empress."

Rachael asked, "What does that mean Evie?"

I was afraid of what it meant. Someone had tried to kill me with lightning bolts last night. I had grown thorn claws in a dream and in real life. I wanted to be _nothing_ like the red witch. Death had threatened to pierce me with his sword.

My voice shook, "Um, for now, go to the stores and buy everything Matthew tells you to. Call any family or friends and warn them to do the same Empty your bank account to do it. Tomorrow, go to the stores and take everything you can get your hands on that's left. Maybe look up a prepper list. Bullets Beans, Trust Matthew with your life. That's the most important thing. And I'll be in contact with him through visions so if he tells you I'm coming or that you need to go somewhere to meet me then you can believe him.

"Evie, you've been an absolute Godsend."

"Rachael?"

"Yes Evie?"

"Before you go," My voice was shaking. Was I going to do this? 10:00am. We still had time to prep. Yep. Too late to send me back to CLC. "Could you talk to my mother? She thinks I'm...delusional. She had me committed this summer...because of all the visions Matthew sent me." I couldn't hold back the tears and it was obvious. "I need you to talk to my mom, help referee a shared vision with the four of us, something, anything, help prove to Mom I'm not crazy so we can be prepared too. Please."

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A/N Leave me some love? Previews for reviews if you'd like.


	2. Jack POV Part 1

Here's a Jack pov. There's a few of them, it will last until everyone leaves Haven and then I may add in more. Not sure yet. If you have an opinion on that, feel free to let me know. I'm going to post this on the main story too. It's the most recent chapter, 12

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She'd been in my house. Evangeline Greene had been in my goddamn house. That thought echoed through my brain like a hammer, I wanted to tear something, hit something, go on a rampage.

I forced myself to fold the sketch over the tarot card, carefully avoiding getting blood on the paper, and shoving it into a pocket in my jacket. I wrapped my arm up with a rag, tying it with my good hand and my teeth to try and stem the blood and lend strength to the arm. I gritted his teeth in pain. Then threw on his pack and headed out. That pack had my buck knife and my Jack in it. I took a huge draft first. Brandon's phone and the sketches I'd gotten from Evie, a few other odds and ends. I didn't own much. Just survival stuff he'd gotten used to carrying that was useful hunting or scavenging.

My mere had trouble finding work now, got drunk to often to hold a steady one. When I was younger it had been different. Now...now she seemed to have lost her way. I still loved her. She had bad taste in men though. First, she wanted my father and got pregnant with me. He wouldn't marry her, support her, nothing. Left her to deal with the consequences on her own. So she drank because she couldn't handle not having someone she wanted so bad. Then there were the others. All the other men she'd bring home on Saturday nights, some of which would beat her or me to hell, leaving us to crawl to the hospital on Sunday. That was life for years, until I learned how to fight back. Then I beat up the men before they could hurt _Maman_ and me. This earned me a bit of a reputation, but I saw this as a good thing. Some of them would back off when they saw me coming for them. Some of them were too _coo-yon_ to understand danger when they saw it. They learned. I'd been in juvie for teaching that last one his lesson. He'd never hurt another woman again, so I felt that was worth the time.

Evangeline had been willing to overlook the rumors, which had been a miracle in itself. That gorgeous, deep blue eyed, five foot, slender, had curves in all the right places that I'd had the pleasure of touching just last night. Evangeline, who spoke Cajun, had a Cajun name, with her long, thick gorgeous blond hair, _fille_ who smelled like flowers and tasted like honey, and was rich and as perfect as I could imagine a girl being, had been in my rotten, dirty, wrecked, shack of a home!

I wanted to get Maman up and out, just in case Evie was right, but she was too drunk to move and I was in no shape to do anything. Just like other Saturday and Sunday nights, I'd beat up her drunk caller, and now it was time to get myself to a doc and get patched up. Fuck it, maybe she was wrong.

"Uuggghhhh!" I tried to throttle my bike but my arm screamed in protest and so did I. Drunk skunk must have torn the muscle. My life was shit. She'd fucking told me never to come back! She'd had tears in her eyes as she'd accused me of playing her and told me never to come back! I'd had her in my arms just last night!

Clotile. I'd call Clotile. I turned to go back to the house, but Clotile was already riding up on Tee-bo's bike.

"Clotile? What're you doin' here?"

"Evie called me. Said you were hurt! Let's get on your bike. You're riding bitch. I'm driving. Let's go."

Before I got on with Clotile, with the rain pouring down around us, I put his good hand on Tee-bo's shoulder, got in close and told my podna, "If Evie's prank flier ain't a prank, you find her after and look after her for me. She and her mere have a farm they'll be growin' food on. They'll be needin' help with that. You hear me?

Tee-bo's face was grave as he took in what Jack was saying. "I hear you podna, and you know you can. I'll do that for you. But why won't you..."

"Ain't got time!"

I jumped on my bike behind Clotile and yelled, "Swear you'll protect them!"

Tee-bo yelled over the bikes and the rain. "I swear."

Then we jammed our helmets on and roared off. Tee-bo Jandin headed home and Clotile drove us out of town.

As Clotile drove us the half hour through the unnatturally hot rain, I tried to fit in the latest piece of the puzzle that was Evangeline Greene. She'd shown up at my goddamn house. If there was one thing in the world I'd never want her to see, that would have been it. She was from the second richest house in the neighboring parish, and my house was just about the worst house there was in mine. I kept it as best I could, but with no money and no way to get a job, it leaked like a sieve when it rained, looked like the shack that it was, and I'd been ashamed to see her standing in it. I'd been mad as hell that I'd been ashamed.

She'd accused me of playing her. Well I had a bit. I couldn't let my _podna_ get caught, not when he was going to lift Brandon's phone for me. But I needed to know more about her. Maybe that phone would have given me enough info to let me know more about her. Maybe not. I _had_ played along with her visions. Truth was, I hadn't been entirely sure the girl wasn't playing _me. _Hell, she'd even gone so far as to prank three towns with the things. The whole thing could have been a massive play. Her _mere_ had seemed pretty cool. Evie had said Karen was strict. So many things didn't add up. Either the girl was a pathological liar, she was crazy as a loon, or she was some sort of seer. I just hadn't been sure which one. I'd had to play along long enough to figure out which one.

She'd invited us over for study groups which had been unexpected and shocking. She'd responded to my teasing and flirting like a charm which had been fun.

It wasn't a hardship. The _fille_ was fine, smelled like a flower, and I'd learned she tasted like honey.

She also did some pretty strange things. Like giving up the catch of the parish. Possibly so she could kiss a boy like me. That kind of thing just didn't add up. No sane girl did that kind of thing. Give up the richest boy in the parish who was also her beau, just for the possibility of kissing a poor boy like me with nothing to my name?

But what she did tonight? Driving over to fling one last warning at him? Warning me I had half an hour or less? Calling Clotile to come get me, asking me with those sad eyes if I'd played her, and telling me to never come back.

I was forced to conclude as I felt the unnaturally hot as hell rain on the night of the full moon, that yes, she must have been genuine. And damn. I'd fucked it up with her. And damn it to hell, my mere was in my house alone without protection. My mind raced, thinking of what I could have done. Tee-bo couldn't have carried her on his bike in her condition, passed out and drunk. Dieu, I prayed she'd be ok. I prayed Evangeline was wrong. I knew she was right. Maybe I could make a call with Brandon's phone when we stopped. I needed my good arm to hold on, my cut arm wrapped near clotile but was in fucking agony. I needed more booze to kill the pain. The muscle had torn somewhere and would need to be stitched.

Clotile drove me to an unlicensed doc in the next parish with a cellar office. We arrived just as the rain stopped and a hot dry wind kicked up. Just as the doc opened the door and let us in, we looked at the sky. Ribbons of blood red and dark purple streaked the sky, just like in the damn drawing Evangeline had shown him not four days ago.

"She was right." I whispered. I stared spellbound, me, Clotile and the Doc.

"Doan look at the lights." I muttered. Then I turned and looked at them, still staring like statues.

"Doan look at the lights!" I yelled. They stared at me. I grabbed Clotile's arm, grinding my teeth at the pain and shoved the doc with my good arm, slamming the door and locking it behind me.

"Cellar! Now!"

"Why?!" The doc asked, stupefied. The coo-yon wanted to stare at the lights.

"You look at them lights, you're dead. You stand in this house, you're dead. You're in the cellar, you're safe. Cellar! Now!"

"This way!"

Finally! We followed him. We'd barely slammed the door behind us when an almighty roar shook the ground and we stumbled down the steps crashing to the bottom.

By the light of some candles and a flashlight Clotile held, the doc stitched my arm up while I drank every bit of liquor I had. The doc had some of his own that he'd taken healthy gulps of 'to steady his nerves'. If there was ever a night someone's nerves needed steadying, it would be tonight.

After the flash they met up with a mechanic who'd repaired the docs car and my bike. The doc and mechanic had been all fired up to join a militia, killing baggers. They'd talked me and Clotile into joining. They hadn't had to talk very hard.

I'd wanted to check on Evie, but she'd told me never to return, and I didn't blame her. I told myself I'd go prove myself. Get some skills in the militia, so maybe, if I ever found the courage to go back, I'd be someone she wouldn't look down on. She'd know I would be someone she could depend on.

I had stopped back at my house to pick up a change of clothes, any booze that was left, whatever tools I could fit in my pack, and check on my _mere. _She was a bagger. One of those monsters from Evie's drawings. I'd killed her. She'd scratched the hell out of me, trying to bite me. I'd had to decapitate her. Nothing else had stopped her. It was a nightmare. She'd nearly bitten me as I stood there in shock. I kept her crucifix as a remembrance, I'd failed her. He left everything else. He didn't want to remember a damn thing about this place. He got drunk as a skunk that night. And the next night too. Too bad there wasn't enough alcohol to forget. The nightmares of that night kept it fresh.

Clotile was with me. She was screaming at first. I'd made her stay out while I dealt with her. I asked Clotile if she wanted to stop by her house to pick up anything. She wasn't sure she did after this and I wasn't either. Here _mere _wasn't there though. Piles of ash were everywhere. She packed her backpack full and we left, meeting up with the Doc and militia.

I found a charging cord and spent hours upon hours charging a phone that would never make a call, just to look at the pictures of Evie on Brandon's phone and to study the texts she'd sent him. That spring she'd sent him hundreds of chatty texts, then that summer they'd died down to next to nothing. Scheduled, exact numbers of texts. There was something specific behind that. Someone had been restricting her texts. Only allowing her to text at certain times and only a certain number of times. But who? And why?

I thought long and hard about the possibilities behind that. I thought about those drawings. She'd only had a few to show me. She'd hinted there had been more, but they'd been taken or destroyed. She'd said her _mere _was strict.

What if her _mere_ had seen the same kind of drawings I had? Had seen her have the same visions I had. Evie had told me she hadn't even told her _mere_ or her best friend about them and that was beyond his comprehension. Now he thought, maybe she _had _told her _mere_ before, only it hadn't gone so well. She'd asked me before confiding in me, whether I believed in visions, things I couldn't explain. Maybe her _mere_ didn't?

I had thought at the beginning that she was either a liar, crazy, or a seer. What if her _mere_ had gone with one of the first two possibilities? Had sent Evie somewhere that summer. Somewhere she had restricted calls. Something that would make her very cagey about ever saying anything to her _mere_ about those drawings ever again.

It fit. Karen thought Evie was crazy with her visions of the end of the world, her talking to people that weren't in the room. Her strange dreams and drawings. She'd had her locked up with the crazies. Evie had told me, I had played along but hadn't fully believed so she felt I'd played her. Of course she'd be pissed at me.

We stayed with the militia for a long while. I learned to source materials, hunt and kill baggers, find safe places pack a bug out bag, repair cars and bikes. All sorts of useful skills. No one ever got the drop on me, but then, I'd been watchin' my six all my life. I killed hundreds of bagmen. Learned tricks to it. Got sick of it.

As food and resources dwindled, people turned crazy. They started turning on each other, killing each other. Some even ate each other. I saw things I wished I could be unseen. Whisky was always welcome.

I picked up a deck of Tarot cards while looting one day and stuffed it in my bag, looked at the cards later that night, remembering the few Evangeline had told me about.

The Fool. His card didn't show any real clues. He held a rose, carried an nap sack and was walking toward a cliff with a dog at his heels.

Death. Not a bad card, Why not? You'd think someone who killed people would be a bad card. His card showed a knight with a scythe, just like a reaper. Maybe he was a puzzle too.

The Devil – Bad card He was a horned creature. Pretty hideous. Obvious guy if you came across him.

The Empress This sketch of Evie's had been blank. Why? She'd drawn sketches of all the others.

This card showed a woman sitting in a chair surrounded by a bounty of food. Then he remembered that Evangeline had told him that they'd be able to grow crops at Haven after the flash. Was _she _the Empress? She'd always smelled like flowers. It was a possibility.

The Lovers -Bad card and the biggest army you've ever seen. It will absorb anything and everything. If you see it or even hear rumor of it, _run._ As fast and as far as you can. They're spell casters. Hypnotists.

One day, six days drive west of Sterling, when I was scouting, I heard multiple shots fired on the horizon where a town stood. That had spooked me so I ran in the opposite direction toward a high hill. Using binoculars I saw an army of mammoth proportions. I saw them shooting anyone who was resisting. Taking men and women into the camp, supplies, everything, swallowed up, just like Evie'd said. I rode my bike back to camp, making the two day drive in just over a day, forgoing food and sleep. First thing I did when I got there was find Clotile and tell her to grab her gear, fill up my bike and bug out of camp. To meet me west of camp. We were leaving with or without the rest of the company just as soon and I briefed his CO and XO. I met with them, brought the doc along as a reference. Told them about the girl I'd met so long ago who'd had visions, her warning. Threw down the sketch and matching tarot card that never left my bugout bag. I told them what I'd seen, and they could do what they wanted, but I was leaving now to warn the girl that had warned me so long ago. I was headed out. I didn't know of any force that could stop an army that large short of Texas. Everyone knew Texan's carried gun's like they carried wallets. He figured they'd do best to head there. Sterling, Louisiana was on the way.

The commander respected me, I'd been a great scout and scrounger. But I knew this sounded crazy so I honestly wasn't expecting much. The doc vouched for me. Decent of him. So when they talked it over and decided they'd follow me West I couldn't have been more surprised. Pleased, but surprised. So the whole outfit bugged out and headed west. I was told to take a bike with a tank of gas and a few spare cans in my saddle bags. The rest would be no more than an hour or two behind us. They'd meet up in Sterling Louisiana.. It was about a four days drive for the army, and they had three days on the Lover's army. Clotile and I on my bike could probably make it in two or three. On a bike we could weave around the road refuse that cars and trucks would have to reduce speed or even go off road to steer around. Maybe he could give Evie enough time to get her ass gone. I just hoped the warning would get me back in her good graces, though I didn't expect a warm welcome. As the saying goes, I frankly hoped she wouldn't shoot the messenger.

Day 205 A.F.

When we got to Sterling it was dawn. It had taken us three days, driving in shifts, through the nights. It wasn't constant 60 miles per hour straight shot like it would have been pre-flash, non. If it had been we probably could have been here in a day. Travel was different these days. You couldn't just stop at a station and fill up with gas when you needed it. You had to scrounge for it and that took time and creativity. The ash and dust wind storms lasted for hours, reducing visibility, making you slow or sometimes stop completely. Then there were the obstacles on the road, those made you travel slower too.

We went to the Bayou directly and found a few men hunting. After shooting the shit for a bit and quickly bagging a small crock that would fit in my saddlebags for trading purposes. Everyone needed fresh meat these days. Then the men directed us to a couple homes along the way. There Clotile found one woman she'd known who assured us both Clotile would be just fine here and I could go about my business, come back for her later. There were no baggers in the area, the hunters saw to that. Sure Clotile would be safe for a few hours.

I asked a few questions in town, trying to get the lay of the land to judge my welcome, so to speak. Everyone practically shooed me along, told me traders should go to Haven's gates. That's where all the trading was done around these parts and I'd find whatever I needed there. A monopoly on trading. Fantastic. That _never_ boded well.

I pulled into Haven, surprised to see Cajun guards at the gates with pistols and withered blackberry briars in the background. No fruit though. Things sure had changed around here. No cane fields. Just those withered cane stalks and withered trees like everywhere else. Though he could see some...green trees near the house? What on earth?

"What's your business traveler? Are you here to trade or work?"

I spoke in Cajun. "My name is Jackson Deveaux. I'm from the Bayou across the bridge originally. I've been traveling since the flash with a militia. I've stopped through on my way to Texas to trade for food and I have information for Evangeline Greene. She'll want to see me."

The guard gave me a pleased look when he saw he was a fellow Cajun from the area, but frowned when I asked for Evie.

He replied in Cajun. "Miss Evie doesn't receive visitors until noon, but I can get Karen for you if you'd like."

I'd come all this way and she _wasn't receiving visitors?_ Was she too fucking above me to even speak to me now? Suddenly I was enraged. He'd had a hard two days from scouting and finding the Lover's army back to the Militia, and then another three days hard riding here. That made a grand total of five days of nearly non-stop travel, stopping only to scrounge for fuel, with barely any sleep or food and Miss Evangeline Greene _wasn't receiving visitors? _

I spoke in a soft but nearly lethal tone. "You tell her Jackson Deveaux is here to see her. I'm a family friend. I think she'll be willing to hear what I have to say."

About ten minutes later the guard came back, a smile on his face and introduced himself as Max with a handshake, offering to take my bike to the motor pool for me. I tried to calm the fuck down, but the bike wasn't leaving my side and I didn't know that I'd be staying long so I just told him the latter. Max shrugged saying, "Suit yourself." and we continued to walk. I was mad, exhausted, and my stomach was trying to eat my spine. It had been ages since I'd slept or had a decent meal. Hell, since I'd had a bath. And I had to meet the Princess like this.

As we got closer to the house, I noticed greenery. There was a hedge of briars as tall as me. I was six feet 4 inches. The hedge curved in a massive circle and appeared to completely surround the main property. Past that cane fields had been removed and there was a field of dirt ready for planting. At the head of the field, near the house, lounging in the chair in the shade of a tree, looking very comfortable was a girl with long blond hair. Workers were in the field gathering crops. From the looks of it, okra, carrots, potatoes, corn, and peas. Also...Blueberries and Strawberries? I wasn't an expert, but I didn't think those were supposed to all grow in the same season. My mouth watered and I had to restrain myself from running to the field to pick those berries where they stood.

I struggled to keep my jaw from dropping as I gaped as the crops while we walked past the long field. I hadn't seen a living green thing in over two hundred days. It was a new fact of life. Nothing grew. Not anywhere. Not for anyone. If it wasn't canned or from a bag, box or bottle, there wasn't food anymore. Well, excepting Gators and snakes for meat. They seemed to survive fine for some reason. Fish too on occasion, if you were lucky. Most rivers and lakes had flash evaporated though. The entire gulf coast was rumored to have dried up. How the bayou waters had survived and the people here had survived was a huge mystery.

How had they managed this? As Evie sat on her chair at the front of the field, I again saw the picture of the Tarot card of the Empress in my mind. The Empress sat in a chair, surrounded by a bounty of food. It was like a lightbulb went off in my brain as the pieces fit together in a flash. Evangeline was the Empress. Had she known?

I felt like all the work I'd done to become worthy of her, all the skills I'd learned, had been for nothing. That made me furious. If I wasn't good enough for her before, I'd never be good enough now. And on top of that, in spite of being the Empress and being able to make food somehow, I looked at her sitting there, apparently lounging and eating while others work and I despised how soft and spoiled she seemed to have become. Again she was a puzzle. How had she become more soft and spoiled since the flash, while others had toiled harder and worked longer? How could she lounge while others worked for her?

She'd probably never look twice at me now. Probably forgot about ole Jack long ago. A scowl twisted my face. I frowned when I came close enough to see her face. She was...smiling? At me? I blanked my features and studied her. Her face was pale, even in the shade. Was she sick? Didn't the good life agree with her?

I could hardly contain my surprise when she didn't bother to haggle for what I had to trade, offering me a room to stay for as long as I liked and food to eat. She welcomed me. Had she missed me like I'd missed her?

It didn't seem like it. Seemed as though she could barely stand to look at me. Then she told me hunters of my skill were valued here? Why couldn't the girl ever make any fucking sense? She stood to leave and … fainted?

She was sick! I was sure of it! What was the matter with her? I carried her to the house but couldn't get her _mere_ to give me a straight answer about why she was ill, just that she had a strenuous job and would be better by noon. I knew bullshit when I heard it. Something was way fucking fishy around here. Oh and here was some food, water, a spare set of clothes would be placed in his room, free of charge, and would he like a bath after he ate or before?

The talk with Karen was interesting. Evie was resting while the crops were being planted, but she was also _not resting._ Which implied that she was working in some way. That was _really_ interesting. Did that have something to do with her being Empress? Using her gifts to make the plants grow and recovering from her "strenuous" work early in the morning? Not to mention Karen saying, "Haven wouldn't be the success it is without all you've done. You will always be welcome here, our home is yours." _Our home is yours?!_

I should consider _Haven_ my _home_? The last time I'd spoken with Evangeline she'd told me to never come back. Now that I had I'd been warmly welcomed, told to stay as long as I liked, and that I should consider Haven my home. I shook my head with a wry grin. It would take me a while to wrap my head around that.

And that bit about Evie not being relaxed...what had that been about? I noted the books on Evangeline's nightstand after I set her down. Robinson Crusoe! Island of the Blue Dolphins. The Hatchet. Survival books all. Heh. What to make of that...

I let Karen lead me down to the kitchen though I knew the way. It had been a while since those study sessions so long ago. There were at least two dozen women filling both the kitchen, the kitchen table, and the dining room. Preparations for a large meal and canning foods going simultaneously. He paused for a second, the phrase, "too many cooks in a kitchen" coming to mind. No one seemed to be arguing though. Some were cutting and washing. Others washing and drying jars. More attending pots boiling on the stove. Some good smells coming from there made his stomach rumble loudly.

And was that...did he smell..._fresh bread? _My scroungers eyes flashed around the room. _There!_ Four women kneading and shaping dough into rolls and placing it on baking sheets. Taking it outside? They must have a wood or solar based oven out there. And I'd smelled the bread because that brunette_ fille_ had just brought in two trays of rolls from outside. My mouth watered and I swallowed hard.

No one ate fresh bread anymore! No one ate fresh fruits and veg anymore either. It seemed the rules just didn't apply here.

Karen asked me to excuse the mess of preparations but they were always busy in the kitchen at Haven. I could well see that. Even as she was saying this a man came to bring in a bushel basket of vegetables from the field outside. Karen redirected some of the preparations to card tables on the porch over my protests. I'd be happy to eat anywhere. She insisted that I was an "honored guest" and I was going to sit at the table and eat my fill and she wouldn't hear another word to the contrary. When I opened my mouth to try again, about to say I could just eat on the porch, Isabeu Jandin, Tee-bo's _mere,_ appeared from somewhere backing up Karen.

There was one thing Jackson Deveaux had learned, I ain't ever goan to argue with two women. I always come out the loser on that score.

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What do you think would make the story better?


	3. Jack POV Day 6 BF

Jack POV Day 6BF

I left my home, such as it was, in the bayou and met up with my podna's at the new levee bridge. The fucking bridge. It had just been finished this summer, connecting the town of Sterling to the Basin, where I lived. Before the bridge was built, we would have had to drive fifty miles around the lake to get to Sterling High, but now, because of this bridge, we had to switch schools. It was a joke, and the joke was on us.

The Basin was Cajun. Cajun is a shortened version of Canadian or Acadian. We were descended from the Canadian Catholics who had been force migrated to the swamps of Louisiana hundreds of years ago, their wealth stolen and left behind. Since then the poverty stricken Cajuns had intermarried with Native American, Hispanic, Irish, and Black and White Creoles, we had never become wealthy or middle class. Most of us were firmly at or below poverty level and always would be.. The Sterling population was made up of mostly White Protestants. We couldn't be more different. Our people went over there to work, not socialize. We were their farm workers, their wait staff, their maids, lawn care, whatever. To go to school with them...this was just asking for trouble.

The five of us were closest to the levee, so the district was sending us to Sterling. Once all three of our bikes were at the bridge we left together. I was riding solo, Clotile, my sister in all but name, was riding with Lionell. Tee-bo and Gaston together on the last. Lionell was my podna in crime more often than not, but I'd just finished doing time in juvie.

I wasn't sorry for what I'd done either. The man I'd turned into cane pulp had hurt my _Maman_. When I'd gotten in his way, he'd gone after me. When I'd finished with him, I knew he wouldn't hurt another woman again. Judge hadn't seen things my way though. Fuck him. Story just added to my reputation which meant more safety for me and my _mere. _She had the worst taste in men, including my father, who'd never given us time or a dime, more interested in spoiling his own family in Sterling.

I grinned when I saw Clotile's shirt, clearly seeing our theme for the day. It was a hot pink crop T-shirt which said in bold black letters, "I GOT BURBON-FACED ON SHIT STREET." She was obviously taking no prisoners today. She was also wearing a mini-skirt that flared out when she walked. The boys would be having trouble keeping their tongues in their mouths.

We roared off the bridge and onto the highway. I lead the pack, roaring along, but slowed as we came upon a cherry red Porsche with the top down. A babe was leaning over, her ass up high, kissing the driver's cheek. I cruised to maintain speed, getting a good look at that oh so _fine_ ass. She had on a short blue dress and those pale legs of hers may have gone on forever, oh, but that ass. She had long, thick blond hair blowing in the wind. I loved that she seemed not to care that her hairstyle was ruined. I hated she was kissing him. But then, she must have felt the heat of my stare, because she turned around and looked at me over her shoulder. Her hair was in the way. _Pull it out of the way beauty, let me see that face. Yes!_

With one arm, she held her hair away from her face, and her cornflower blue eyes met mine. I swore, she was gorgeous. Red lips, petite features, nearly pixie. Something so small and needing to be protected, but so luscious that I desperately wanted her. She looked younger than me. She wouldn't be in my year. I was 18, nearly 19 and a Junior. Juvie took time, so did hospital stays when I was younger. Mom's boyfriends had _really _sucked. The boyishly good looking driver was probably her boyfriend. If I couldn't have, I could sure look. My heated gaze raked her form. She flushed, and sat her fine ass down in her seat, her eyes still on mine. Probably wondering what I looked like behind my tinted visor.

I gave her a chin jerk in acknowledgment, and in thanks for the viewing pleasure, then looked at the road just in time. Huge pothole. I dodged it just in time. Adrenaline rush! If I hadn't looked up when I had, I would've tumbled off my bike head first. I couldn't get that girl out of my head. I'd better though, if I didn't want to end up like my mere, drunk all the time, wanting what I couldn't have.

The three of us pulled off a little ways away from the school, talking over strategy. Lionell said it best. "They're never goan to accept us. Why even try? We'll go in, show them we're not meant to be messed with, and keep our own company. End of story."

Clotile looked sad about this but she was no fool. She knew girls were cruel bitches. Rich bitches were no different. She'd never be able to dress like them, look like them, or talk like them. They'd hate her for who she was even if she tried to fit in. Why try?

Tee-bo was a good sort, but he'd go along with the group. Gaston, he figured Lionell was right and I did too. We loaded back up and made our entrance: Loud and obnoxious. The entire parking lot went dead quiet when we entered, just watching. The Cajuns were here and we could give a shit what they thought.

We parked and dismounted, I took off my helmet and shook out my hair. It was longer than fashionable but cheaper that way. I liked it and the babes liked it so it was all good. Lionell gave his bike a roar and startled some of the preppy students walking by. They shrieked. We laughed. Good to know they scared easy. It meant no one would be dicking around with us for the top dog spot.

I clocked the _fille_ I'd had the staring match with. Gorgeous blue eyes in a gorgeous blue sundress was standing in a huddle with three other girls. Some thought that staring match shit died in elementary school. What they didn't know, was all women wanted to think they were beautiful. What they wanted even more than that, was for a man to show _he_ thought they were beautiful. Best way to do that? A good, long, heated stare. She and her friends started heading our way. I gave her another one, head to toe and back again. She blushed. Excellent. Receptive. I caught my podnas' attention as they neared.

You could have knocked me over with a feather when blue eyes introduced herself as Evie. She seemed genuinely welcoming. She even smiled at each of us, particularly Clotile. I wondered if she was playing a game. It seemed too good to be true. But on the other hand, if someone was going to be welcoming, I wasn't goan to knock it.

Lionell nearly messed the whole thing up but I told him to shut it and made the introductions. I wanted an in with Evie. If there was even a sliver of a chance that I could get her, I wanted it. And I was goan to take it.

After they left, I told Lionell and the others that we were going to change our game plan. Lionell didn't like it none, but he listened. We would be cordial to Miss Evie and her friends. If anyone gave us shit we could always dish it out twice over, but these fille's seemed to have the top dog position among the ladies of the school. They might could smooth our way in. Might as well accept what was offered. It wouldn't be offered twice. If they were playing a game, we could screw them harder. Stay cautious, don't tell any secrets, but play the game. See how it goes. When we were agreed, we entered Sterling High.


End file.
